Modeling Manhood: Interrogating and Reframing Representations of Black Masculinity in School

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Identity, and Social Resiliency in the Context of Cultural Practice

Abstract

Objectives
Now is a unique and important time for discussions around Black identity in relation to education. Recent killings of Black males and the resulting public outcry and discourse around race illustrate the importance of notions of Black manhood in the United States. However, scholars have rarely examined how notions of Black manhood get discussed in communities of Black males, or how socialization around Black manhood occurs in schools (Dance, 2004; Ferguson, 1997). This paper examines how Black male identity got reimagined in all Black, all-male manhood development classes (MDP) in a large urban district.

The authors consider how this collective reimagining of Black manhood occurred through role modeling, explicit conversations, and the maintenance of community norms of care and love.

Methodology
Data are drawn from a three-year study of all-Black, all-male MDP classes in an urban district where Black students comprise 30% of the student population, but are disproportionately suspended and expelled, and are collectively achieving at lower levels than other students. In response to these trends, the district sponsored MDP classes in four comprehensive high schools as a part of the school day, taught by instructors who were based in the Black community. The study examines students’ experiences in these classes, and the data corpus includes fieldnotes and video from 2 years of in-depth weekly observation in the spring semester classes (15 weeks each) in 3 sites, as well as two sets of student interviews (n=55) and instructor interviews (n=4).

Data Analysis
Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed, and entered (along with fieldnotes) into a qualitative analysis software program. Video data were content-logged, and some segments transcribed after coding. The data were read iteratively and a coding scheme was developed for the content logs, fieldnotes, and interviews, and the research team coded them, with regular checks on reliability.

Results
This paper focuses on interactions from class sessions, examining how stereotypical representations of Black males were discussed and reimagined in this space. We argue that instructors deliberately disrupted key negative stereotypes about Black male students, by debunking these stereotypes and creating new definitions of Black manhood. Three important elements of African-American male identity that get reimagined through the MDP program were examined: Specifically, that Black manhood includes: 1) Feeling and expressing emotion, 2) Being in relationship with others, including fatherhood, and 3) Being connected to a tradition of achievement and making important contributions to society. Findings also illustrate how this collective reimagining of Black manhood occurred through role modeling (including drawing on the historical record), explicit conversations, and the maintenance of community norms of care and love.

Scholarly Significance
Research has shown that racial stereotypes are prevalent in school (Lewis, 2003; Pollock, 2004), including specific stereotypes about African-American males, including stereotypes that Black males are “hard” and unemotional, criminal and anti-school (Dance, 2002; Ferguson, 2001; Majors, 1993). We know less about how young Black men take up, resist, or respond to these stereotypes, and even less about how schools might provide resources for this identity work to happen.

Author

• Nailah Suad Nasir, University of California - Berkeley